Maine Attorney General Janet Mills, and the state's native American legislative representatives, say the case has implications in Maine.

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) _ Maine Attorney General Janet Mills says the state is joining South Carolina and other states in defending the federal Indian Child Welfare Act in a case going before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mills said the state signed an amicus brief Thursday in a case in which a child born to a father who was a tribal member and non-tribal mother was put up for adoption by the mother. A non-Indian family adopted the child. The South Carolina Supreme Court ultimately ruled the adoption violated the Indian Child Care Act.

Maine's native American legislative representatives and Mills say the case has implications in Maine. Mills says a process is under way to investigate systematic removal of tribal children from their households prior to passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978.